


Sternennacht

by Corvina_of_Olympus



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Frontier
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Drama, Fluff and Angst, Koichi is the best brother, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Swearing, far more drama than necessary
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2018-05-09 07:46:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5531486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corvina_of_Olympus/pseuds/Corvina_of_Olympus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For as long as they were there, Kouji Minamoto had loathed the scribbled words on his right arm. He hoped he would never meet his soulmate.<br/>Takuya Kanbara usually joked about his unusual mark. He still looked forward to meeting his destined partner for life.</p><p>...Sounds like a problem, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Destined Link

**Author's Note:**

> The first time I saw a soulmate AU, I immediately fell in love with the concept. So when this idea came to my mind I couldn't resist and just started to write it down. TaKouji is also one of my OTPs and this story just... happened. I hope that I manage to express what was the original concept of this story... Well, we will see about that.
> 
> "Sternennacht" is the German title of Vincent van Gogh's painting "The Starry Night" and means the same. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading this fanfiction :)  
> It isn't proof-read and I'm not a native speaker, so please excuse minor mistakes.

For as long as they were there, Kouji Minamoto had loathed the scribbled words on his right arm. It was a long sentence that stood there in messy handwriting, and it covered the whole arm from his wrist to his shoulder. 

This made it impossible to just ignore that nonsense…  
And it just reminded him that the writing, in fact, wasn’t nonsense _at all_.

His stepmother always told him that this stupid, incoherent sentence was the way to find his one, true soulmate. The person he would be completely compatible with, the person he would be together with his whole lifetime, the person he could trust.

This would mean that some dumb, blabbering stranger with not only a messy, but a downright _ugly_ handwriting would be the one to spend his whole life with.

Blame fate for him having to live with that mess scrawled all over his arm.

It definitely wasn’t a girl’s handwriting, he knew that much. His stepmother had agreed and immediately assured him that this didn’t matter; a soulmate was a soulmate and it wasn’t that uncommon to be matched with a person of the same gender. His father had been disappointed, but he accepted this wasn’t anything that could be changed. Kouji didn’t care.  
He didn’t want a boy, nor did he want a girl. He wanted to be left alone with that soulmate crap.

When the mark appeared on his tenth birthday, like it happened with most people, he had just wanted to erase it.  
It wasn’t just because it consisted of blabbered nonsense, was written in an ugly handwriting and covered his whole arm.  
It was because he didn’t want a soulmate. He didn’t want to completely open up to someone. The whole ‘you can just trust that person’ thing was bullshit. You couldn’t trust a random person you just met because fate or whatever wanted you to match.  
_He_ couldn’t.

Maybe, if he was lucky, he would never actually meet his soulmate. This happened, too. Society considered it a tragedy. Every second romantic drama starting at the cinema dealt with someone who still hadn’t found their soulmate at 40 and were somehow devastated because of that. His stepmother always cried while watching those films. 

Kouji snorted and disdainfully glared at his arm again.

_‘Hey, um, I was wondering if you want to talk because, you know, you look so lonely…’_

He really hated the mark. 

His so-called soulmate would be a stupid boy with an ugly handwriting and an inability to form a coherent sentence. He also seemed to like invading the personal space of people he didn’t know. 

‘The absolute dream partner’ Kouji thought, of course free of any sarcasm.

He hoped he would never meet him.  
_______________________________________________________________

Takuya Kanbara usually joked about his mark. He took life easily; and it’s just impossible to not laugh when the first words your supposed life-long partner apparently will say to you are something like _‘Stop staring at me, moron’_ , isn’t it?

Well, actually, screw that. Takuya didn’t like the fact the owner of the neat cursive written over the left side of his neck and therefore his goddamn soulmate would probably promptly deny him, from the sound of it. 

His parents always told him that most people don’t immediately notice that their soulmate is standing right in front of them, but as a boy of ten years with an insult imprinted on his skin he had pouted at explanations like that. "My soulmate is a very rude person! The first thing they are going to say to me is an insult!" he used to complain.  
He had calmed down a bit with getting older, but the nagging feeling that his soulmate was going to be an asshole never left him.  
‘Well, I am _intended_ to just kinda get along with them, but…”

Sometimes he envied his little brother. Shinya had the words _‘Hello, could you show me the way to Shibuya Station, please?’_ written around his wrist in clumsy letters so that they looked like a fancy bracelet. Not only was that less eye-catching than the word ‘MORON’ right next to your throat, but the words were also very polite. Shinya would probably be asked for the way by a random person on the street, and everything would just… click.

He, in contrast to that, would probably get into an argument immediately. 

Imagining that his soulmate possibly wore an insult made by _him_ somewhere on their body filled him with a tiny bit of grim satisfaction, though.

Everything would work out somehow. Takuya didn’t like his mark, but he was an optimist and believed in destiny. He and his soulmate would get along eventually.

He still looked forward to meeting them.


	2. Chapter One: Clashing Views

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1
> 
> In which two stubborn persons meet and make a discovery both of them didn't want to make, one way or another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, look at my creative choice of title *sarcasm mode*
> 
> I really tried to convey some emotions while keeping the two in-character this time. I hope you like it ^.^

Kouji stared into the grey clouds. The day was unusually warm for January, and there was no sign of snow. Instead a slight drizzle rained from the sky.

The weather suited Kouji’s mood. He just wanted to get away from his home and be able to think.  
The park was empty except for him and he sat down on a bench.

His father and his stepmother had a discussion about him again. He didn’t remember the exact reason, but he heard them talking about how cold and indifferent he still acted towards her. She, of course, defended him like she always did when this topic came up.

 _‘He still misses his true mother. I wish he could see me as his mother, I really do, but I think we’re asking too much of him.’_  
‘He has to accept that his mother is gone. God, if I only hadn’t made that mistake back then… Marrying her without her being my true soulmate had been wrong all along. Our parents warned us, but we were too stubborn to listen to them.’  
A short pause had followed. Kouji had imagined them looking at their matching marks.  
_‘But now, everything will be fine. We found each other and Kouji will eventually accept that this is the best for everyone. It’s going to work out.’_  
Kouji had heard his stepmother agree before he put on his jacket and leaved the house in a hurry. And now here he is, in weather where no one else wants to be outside.

‘My parents’ relationship would have lasted if not for these marks. Just because my father met his “true” partner, he and mother got divorced. Without this so-called destiny that apparently determines our whole life, I would still have a real family. _Then_ everything would have been fine!’

“Hey, um, I was wondering if you want to talk because, you know, you look so lonely…” somebody suddenly said behind him.

Kouji narrowly avoided breaking his neck while snapping his head around.

Behind the bench stood a boy around his age; with slightly messy brown hair and hazel eyes. He had a sheepish grin on his face.

Kouji’s first thought was ‘Oh’. His second thought was ‘What an idiot’. And his third thought was ‘Wait… _Shit’_.

He glared at the other boy. “Stop staring at me, moron.”

Kouji saw the way the brunet’s eyes widened and realisation dawns upon him.  
He pondered about why he didn’t just keep quiet.

“You are… _We_ are…” the other stuttered, and Kouji stood up hastily.  
He didn’t give the boy with the messy hair another glance and flew from the scene. He hoped that the other wouldn’t follow him, but judging from the quick steps behind him, he did. “Leave me _alone!"_ he shouted over his shoulder.  
_“Why?_ Hey, wait for me!” the brunet shouted back behind him.  
Kouji cursed under his breath. Why did everything go wrong today?

The boy behind him was catching up, from which Kouji deduced that he was an athlete and that he would reach him eventually if he didn’t do anything, _fast_.  
With an annoyed shout he abruptly stopped running, causing the other to nearly run him over in surprise. They both needed to catch their breath for a moment, before Kouji glared at the brunet. “Get away from me. I don’t want to talk to you.”

The other stared at him in shock. “But… we might be _soulmates!_ I know, maybe I’m wrong, but you could at least show me your mark so we can be sure!”  
There was a growing desperation in the boy’s voice as he pulled at the collar of his red jacket and revealed the side of his neck. Kouji catched a glimpse of the word ‘moron’ written on the skin, but the tiny spark of amusement he felt was quickly lost in panic as he saw his suspicion confirmed.

‘Fuck’ was all he could think. 

_‘Fuck.’_

The two of them stood in silence for a moment, both still out of breath and caught in confusion and panic.  
Kouji took a step back, and then another one, but before he could turn around and run away again the other boy suddenly leapt after him and they both crashed to the ground from the impact. 

“What are you _doing!?”_ Kouji hissed, enraged and trying to get the brunet off of him.  
“Show me your mark, okay? Please!” the other answered while doing his best to prevent Kouji from running away again. Frustratingly he seemed to be on par with him in terms of strength, so the latter didn’t really succeed with his attempts to escape.  
“Geez, you’re stronger than you look…!” the brunet mumbled, probably without noticing that he said it out loudly.  
“Shut up and get off of me!” Kouji roared and finally managed to throw the other boy off. Before he could stand up and get away though, a hand grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and yanked at it to hold him back.  
The jacket slipped halfway off his arm and revealed only a small part of skin, but apparently it was enough for the brunet to see his own words in his own handwriting.

His eyes went wide again at this confirmation.  
“So you really are my…”  
Kouji interrupted him by angrily yanking his sleeve out of the boy’s grasp. “I don’t want to hear any of that” he growled and the other stared at him in shock for the third time.  
“Listen, I don’t want and I don’t _need_ a soulmate. Stay away from me. Go on with your life. You don’t need that shit, either.”

He stood up while the brunet boy was still stunned and speechless.  
“Don’t you dare to follow me” Kouji said and finally turned around to leave the park and the hazel-eyed boy on the ground behind him; the latter hopefully forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come on, Kouji, let Takuya heal your grumpy and bitter heart!!  
> Haha, but not before they both went through some more angst, because I am evil like that >:D


	3. Chapter Two: A burden to wear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter is so short again, but I hope you'll like it anyway! I will try to make the chapters longer in the future.
> 
> Takuya might seem a bit ooc in this chapter, but I hope to explore the reasons more in future chapters. And that means: ANGST, ANGST, MORE ANGST.

Of course Takuya followed him. Not because he always did exactly what he was explicitly told _not_ to do like some people (rightfully) assumed, but because this was about his goddamn _soulmate_. He was actually rather proud of his sneaking skills which he gained from the countless times he fled from his room when his parents gave him house arrest. But maybe his success today resulted from the fact that the raven-haired boy he was following didn’t spend attention to his surroundings at all and rather seemed to prefer spitting out a stream of angry and very creative cusses. Then again, Takuya wasn’t really concentrated, either: a car nearly ran him over when he followed the other over a street without checking the traffic lights first.  
This really wasn’t his day.

Well, Takuya knew where his potential soulmate lived now. It was a small house just like the one he lived in with his family. He couldn’t bring himself to ring the doorbell, though. How would that guy’s family react? He could tell them a lie why he was there or maybe even the truth, but he figured that the raven-haired guy would probably throw him out of the house after punching him in the face. He also heard barking from the inside that sounded like that of a big dog, and he wouldn’t put it past the other to set the dog on him and chase him from his family's property. No, thank you.

Lost in thought, he returned to his own home, pondering about the other’s reluctance to have a soulmate. Wasn’t it everyone’s dream to have a partner for life? Maybe he wasn’t okay with his soulmate being a boy, too? So many questions...

Takuya sat together with his family at the dinner table, but the nagging questions didn’t leave his head. He played with the rice in his bowl until his mother finally directed her attention to him. “What’s wrong with you, darling?”  
“Nothing”, he mumbled in return. His mother, however, gave him a scorching look and he gave in eventually. 

“I met my soulmate today.”

He was met with silence from the rest of his family for a moment.

“Oh, Takuya! That’s wonderful! Tell me about her!” his mother demanded with a big smile and a sparkle in her eyes.

“It’s a he…” Takuya mumbled.

“He!?”  
“Oh, well… Your mark doesn’t seem like a girl’s handwriting, now that I think about it…” his mother mused.  
“That’s weird. Aren’t boys and girls supposed to be together?” Shinya piped in, obviously confused. Their mother shushed him. “Hush, Shinya. There’s nothing wrong with two boys or two girls being soulmates; you’ll understand that one day.”  
Shinya scrunched up his nose and continued eating. “It’s weird”, he repeated through a mouthful of rice.  
Their mother gave him a scolding look and turned her attention back to Takuya, smiling gently at him. “Don’t worry, honey, we’re not angry about that. Isn’t that right?” She directed her last part at Takuya’s father, who only hesitated for a second before he gave his eldest son an unsure smile. “Of course we’re not.”

Takuya gritted his teeth together while the rest of his family was busy discussing. Finally he had heard enough. 

“THAT’S NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT!” 

Everyone else went silent and shocked, and Takuya continued to talk with a trembling voice because the meaning of today’s events has just hit him full-force.

“He doesn’t want me. _My soulmate doesn’t want me._ I’ll have no person to spend my life with. I will be alone.”

And with a choked sob he ran up to his room, hearing his mother’s worried shout behind him.


	4. Chapter Three: Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not... giving... up... on this story... 
> 
> I tried to take a deeper look at our boy's emotions in this chapter. It's a bit short again, but at least I know how to continue and where I'm going with this story now. Also: Meet Mitsuo, the German shepherd dog! ;)
> 
> Maybe you'll find some parts in this fanfiction where I switch between American and British English. We actually learned British English at school, but nowadays nobody gives a damn. ^^" So, sorry in advance!

Kouji picked at his food silently, not feeling very hungry. He tried to blend out his current situation and let his mind wander to everything that could be able to distract him, be it music or the math test he would write in two days.

He tried to ignore the fact that he met the person he never wanted to include in his plans for the future. He tried to ignore how his father and his stepmother pretended that nothing happened today and that they weren't discussing his indifference again.  
He tried to ignore how he pretended that nothing happened today.

Mitsuo rested his head in Kouji’s lap with a whine, sensing his owner’s distress. Koji sighed and petted the German shepherd dog’s head. This earned him a scolding look from his father, who didn’t appreciate his son interacting with Mitsuo at the dinner table. Not feeling like risking a discussion, Kouji moved the dog’s head off his lap gently, but firmly. He secretly gave Mitsuo a little bit of his food when his father looked away and buried his head in the newspaper again. 

His stepmother seemed to notice that something was wrong with him, too, but one of his bored looks he practised so well over the last years made her give him an unsure smile and turn back to her food.

Kouji sighed quietly. His mark started to itch, as if it wanted to remind him of its presence. He found himself unable to forget today’s events. 

_‘Of course you are’_ , that nagging little voice in the back of his head uttered. _‘You've heard the stories! Meeting your soulmate leaves an impact on you. You’ll never forget that meeting…’_

As if on cue, the image of a pair of cinnamon-coloured eyes struck with exasperation and distress came to his mind. 

Kouji groaned silently. 

Apparently fate had planned to mess with his life a bit more. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Takuya had wrapped himself up in his blanket and stared at the wall of his room, which was painted an ugly yellow colour and should really be repainted soon. He was busy counting the little white spots where the paint had been flaking off when his mother came in. Takuya huffed at her. 

“Takuya? Is everything okay?” she inquired in a worried tone, and Takuya felt the need to growl something along the lines of ‘yes, of course, what does it look like!?’, but he didn’t, because his mother couldn’t be blamed for this whole mess and it would have been unfair to snap at her. Instead he simply “hmmm”ed at her and hoped that she would leave him with only the flaked yellow paint he hated so much to keep him company. She didn’t do him that favour, though. 

“Meeting that boy really left an impact, hmm?” she asked and sat down on the side of his bed. 

To his great frustration, Takuya had to choke down a little sob. He wasn’t supposed to act that pathetically just because of some asshole, dammit!

_'You know that he wasn’t just ‘some asshole’. He was your soulmate, and he didn’t want you.'_

Takuya tried to force the thoughts nagging at his composure away, but found it impossible. He sighed and nodded at his mother. Words were not needed, because the expression on his mother’s face told him that she understood how he felt, at least to some extent.

“Don’t worry, you’ll see him again. Soulmates are naturally drawn to each other. Fate lets nobody escape that easily!” she laughed, trying to lighten up her oldest son’s mood.  
Takuya coldn’t subdue the small smile that sneaked its way onto his face. “That sounds kinda mean.”

“This world wants nobody to be alone. That’s why we have our marks. And that’s why we can’t help but fall in love with our soulmates, even if we need some time.”  
She ruffled her son’s hair. Suddenly, her eyes got a strange shine to them. “Now, tell me: Was he cute?”  
“Mom!” Takuya groaned and hid his face in the pillow while he heard his mother laughing. Why did she have to ask something like that at a time like this?  
“Was he?” she persisted. The brunette nodded grumpily. “Yes… He kinda was. Except for that attidude, of course. He called me moron! And then he ran off and told me that he doesn’t need a soulmate! _Rude!_ ”  
They laughed at this together, and Takuya realised that his mood did lighten up. There was still hope for him – _for them_ – after all. 

His mother stood up from the bed and walked over to the door. Before she left the room, she turned back to her son with a slightly sheepish smile (the one many people insisted Takuya had inherited from her). “I didn’t plan to bother you with this now that you need time to think, but could you maybe go buy some ingredients for today’s dinner from the grocery store? I forgot to get them on my way back, but I’m a bit busy right now. Could you do me that favour?” 

Takuya sighed, but then the thought that he could use a little walk to distract himself enters his mind. So he agreed and a few minutes later he already stormed out of the house, shopping list and money in his pockets and intrusive thoughts banished from his mind – for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter, a big adventure awaits Takuya... _Grocery shopping..._ Who knows what kind of people he will meet there...? ;)
> 
> For everyone who's wondering: "Mitsuo" is taken from a list of Japanese dog names and is supposed to mean "shining hero". I thought that even if Kouji isn't the Warrior of Light in this AU, I could include that aspect at least somewhere. ^.^


	5. Chapter Four: A Strange Meeting

Takuya wandered through the rows of aisles aimlessly. Every few seconds he would glance at the crinkled shopping list in his hand to remind himself what he was searching for. He shouldn’t have agreed to go shopping for groceries; he had always been really bad at finding the things he was supposed to buy. His mother knew it, too, so she probably just sent him off to distract him from the whole soulmate issue. “Let’s see… I need vinegar, yoghurt, green peppers… Ew, I hate green peppers.” Much to his chagrin, those green peppers where the only thing he could find without problems. He dropped the vegetables into his basket with a mildly disgusted expression which earned him a weird look from the old lady that had been inspecting the tomatoes next to him. After that was over and done with, he sighed and looked around. “Maybe I should just ask someone…” 

Takuya turned around the corner of an aisle with canned vegetables. His eyes wandered over corn, pickles and tomatoes before they were met with a sight he didn’t expect at all. 

A very familiar face stood in the corridor and was inspecting a can with mushrooms. A basket dangled from the boy’s arm and the mushrooms landed between three apples and a bottle of salad sauce. 

Takuya almost lost grip on his own basket and only narrowly avoided dooming those cursed green peppers with a fall down onto the tiled floor. He almost forgot to breathe for a second and only stared at the boy he believed he wouldn’t meet again for a while.

The boy finally seemed to notice that he was being stared at and turned around to look at Takuya with a slightly puzzled expression. 

“Uhm, is something the matter?”

Only after hearing the other boy’s voice Takuya realised his mistake. He sounded totally different than the guy from earlier that day, and now that he had gotten over his initial shock he also grasped that this person had short hair while Takuya’s rude most-definitely-soulmate sported a ponytail. But the resemblance was incredible and, to be honest, kinda creepy. Takuya gulped and tried to find his voice again.

“S-sorry. You looked like someone I know,” he explained with a sheepish grin. The other boy gave him a confused frown before his face suddenly lit up. 

“Oh, I understand now! You must have met my brother!”

Takuya just stared at him with a blank face. “…Your brother?” 

“Twin brother, actually. People often confuse us for each other, so he decided to grow his hair out a while ago. Anyway, are you his classmate or something?”

Takuya shook his head no in answer to the question before thinking that it might have been better if he just said yes and left. That guy seemed to be nice enough, but staring at a face that basically looked the same like the one belonging to the person that haunted his thoughts at the moment was really awkward.

The boy frowned a little again and seemed to scrutinise Takuya. “You don’t seem like someone he’d be friends with either, if I’m allowed to say that. You two are not friends, right?” he asked. 

Takuya sighed in defeat. Looks like he wouldn’t get out of this strange situation very soon. “No, we aren’t.” 

He could see the unspoken question on the other’s face.  
“I know it’s none of my business, but I can’t help but be curious. I know how my brother is sometimes. So, how do you know him?” He must have seen Takuya’s hesitation, because he quickly added: “You don’t have to tell me, of course. Oh, my name is Koichi, by the way. I didn’t even tell you, did I?”

‘Great,’ Takuya thought. ‘Just what I need; a conversation about my soulmate problem with the guy’s brother. Twin brother, even.’ But again, this Koichi seemed nice enough (unlike his brother) and something inside Takuya’s brain just willed him to spill everything. 

“I actually met him for the first time in my life this morning,” Takuya said sourly. 

“Huh?”

Takuya pulled down the collar of his shirt a bit to expose the writing on his neck. It was by far not the first time he had showed someone his mark. Truth be told, many of his family members and friends had seen it already. By now, Takuya had basically stopped making a fuss about it. Now that he actually knew that his supposed soulmate was just as much of a douchebag as the sentence on his skin suggested, keeping it private was one of the last things he cared about. Some particularly vengeful part of his brain even argued that the guy deserved to be exposed as the asshole he was, _especially_ in front of his brother.

Said brother’s eyes widened as he realised what Takuya was showing to him. His incredulous expression made obvious that he recognised the handwriting.  
Takuya waited until Koichi had finished reading before pulling his collar back up.  
The boy stared at him for a second and, to the brunet’s dismay, started to laugh.

“Ah, sorry, sorry! I really didn’t want to laugh! But that really sounds like something my brother would say to a person like you,” he chuckled.  
Takuya made a face at him, feeling slightly insulted.  
“Hey, what do you mean?”

“Oh, no offense! Sorry! He just... I think it’s a bit hilarious that he got linked up to someone like you. But I think he needs that. He never tries to make any social contacts and always kept to himself, so it’s great that- Wait, did I say something wrong?” 

While Koichi had been talking, Takuya’s facial expression must have gone from ‘a little grouchy’ to ‘absolutely devastated’, because now the other had stopped his little rant and looked at him with concern.

Takuya’s heart suddenly felt heavy in his chest as he was reminded of just how distressing this whole situation was. 

“Great. Just great. I’m not very sure that your brother thinks about it like that, though.”

Koichi frowned in confusion again. “What do you mean?”

“Wait a second- He didn’t-?”

Takuya nodded glumly at that and rubbed at his itching mark under the fabric of his shirt. At this point, he just wanted to return home and forget about everything.

 

…It was highly unsettling how fast Koichi’s expression changed from shock to pity and then to anger. 

“That idiot,” was all he said. 

And then: “What’s your name?”

Takuya blinked. “Takuya Kanbara. Uhm… I don’t know, maybe I should go home now. I’m sure mom is already waiting for me...” Suddenly, the situation felt incredibly awkward. Koichi stared at him and seemed to contemplate something. 

“I’m going to talk to him." 

“You’re really going to do that?” If there was a glimmer of hope rising inside of him, Takuya tried his best not to show it. 

“You bet I will,” Koichi uttered and Takuya felt as if there was more to it than just pity for him. 

“Uhm, thank you? I guess I should say bye now, I mean, I still have to bring the groceries home and…”  
Takuya shook his head; he felt really confused all of a sudden. The whole day had been so strange, it all seemed like a very complicated kind of dream. Koichi must have noticed his sudden exhaustion, because he gave him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll figure this out.”

Takuya smiled back and bid his goodbye. 

On the way home he contemplated this meeting of chance again. It was kinda freaky: First he met his supposed soulmate who didn’t even want to talk to him, and on the same day he met that guy’s twin brother who told him that he would take care of the situation.

Only when he stood on the front porch of his family’s home he realised that he forgot the yoghurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, okay. So first of all, sorry for the long wait. Aside from being on writer's block and suffering from a serious lack of time, I also contemplated all the ideas I had for this story and suddenly found them all shallow and stupid. New ideas had to happen. They did happen eventually, and now I have a bit of a plan where I am going with this again. 
> 
> Oh, and I also went back and changed the tense, because I realised that I can't stand writing in Simple Present. So much for changing it up a bit. And if you wondered why I write Kouji with the u, but not Koichi: I don't even know. I think it looks weird with the u, just bear with me. I call upon my artistic freedom.
> 
> Who of you expected Koichi to appear in this? Probably quite a lot. ^^


	6. Chapter 5: Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koichi has a friendly chat with his brother because doesn't want to put up with his drama anymore. They come to a conclusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story isn't dead! I really want to finish it, even though I still only have a very vague plan for it. (That's why you take notes for your stories, folks! I had some ideas, but I didn't write them down. Then I forgot them. That is not how you author.)
> 
> This chapter is dialogue-heavy and short. It helped me to get a feeling for this story again, but the plot also moves on! Also: I love writing Koichi. He's great.

Kouji knew by the look on his brother’s face that trouble was approaching. He stepped aside to let Koichi enter the house and then closed the door behind him. His brother already started walking upstairs to his room and he followed him with a feeling like he was being led to the gallows.

In the private space of Kouji’s room, Koichi didn’t just sprawl out on the bed like he usually did when he came over for the weekend. He simply sat down and patted the space next to him. Kouji sat down, too. 

“I heard you met your soulmate.”

Kouji flinched and pulled on his right sleeve reflexively. He did have a feeling that they would have to talk about this topic, but it still came as a shock how soon his twin found out.   
“Did you,” he mumbled, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. Hiding things from Koichi was basically impossible, but he still cursed the person who told him. Probably his stepmother; she had clearly been onto something.

It’s not like they never talked about the topic before. They had discussed it quite often, much to Kouji’s chagrin. Koichi had always been rather adamant about changing his brother’s opinion. He didn’t like it one bit that Kouji dismissed his mark like he did and talked about never wanting to meet the person the words belonged to. One time, Kouji had uttered that he would rather swap with Koichi – that throwaway line had caused the worst argument the twins had ever had in the time they knew each other.   
And that’s why Kouji knew he basically had no chance of getting out of the soulmate situation now that Koichi found out. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try. 

“Look, you know what I think about the whole ordeal. I don’t like that it’s treated like some kind of divine intervention that you have to obey. What connects me to that person? Nothing!” Kouji was getting angrier the more he talked, and he had to stop his voice from getting loud enough for the adults to hear downstairs. Why could nobody understand that he didn’t need this?

Koichi visibly had to struggle keeping calm, too. “Of course nothing connects you to that person yet. You didn’t even give him a chance! You simply stormed off and let the poor guy alone in his confusion! Don’t you think he at least deserves a proper conversation?”

Kouji opened his mouth to argue back, but then he thought about what his brother had said exactly and frowned.   
“How do you know all of that?”

“I met him, and he told me.”

_What?_   
Kouji didn’t believe his ears. He was now becoming very certain that fate had, indeed, conspired against him. The look on his face must have been very sour because Koichi took one look at him and continued explaining.

“Don’t think that he just threw himself at me and whined about the situation. No, he didn’t want to talk about it, either. But he looked at me like I was the devil incarnate when he first saw me. He mistook us for each other, mind you. As soon as I figured that out, it was obvious that something was wrong between you two and I got him to tell me.”

Kouji groaned. “Just my luck…”

“Please, Kouji. He doesn’t deserve being dismissed like that. I want you two to go meet each other and just talk about it. At least once!” 

Kouji was absolutely appalled by that idea. He knew that his brother had a point, but that wasn’t the worst thing. Deep down he was scared of meeting the boy again. What if one decent conversation was really all it took? 

“At least give it a chance. Please.”

Kouji sighed heavily. This whole situation was already giving him a headache.  
But he loved his brother. His brother who could be very persuasive.  
His brother he couldn’t really say no to.

“Fine.”

For the first time since the beginning of the conversation, Koichi smiled.   
“Great! And I’ll accompany you.”

_“Absolutely not.”_

“Yes, I will. Just to make sure you won’t be at each other’s throats immediately. Don’t worry, I will keep my distance!”

Kouji grimaced. Had he mentioned that he couldn’t say no to Koichi?  
Then a thought hit him, and it gave him a little spark of hope that he could still get out of his promise. “How are we going to contact him? I didn’t even ask for his name.”

Koichi grinned widely and waved his phone around. “But I did. It wasn’t difficult to find out his number with that information. And now we are going to call him!”

_‘...Why is my twin brother such a demon?’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little note: I don't know if I'll get an opportunity to mention it, so I will explain it here. In this AU Koichi still found out about Kouji through his grandmother and he stalked him while not quite having the courage to talk to him. But unlike in canon, Kouji notices him one day and naturally there's a lot of explaining to do. They confront their parents about it (which definitely does not help Kouji's relationship with his dad) and now Koichi comes over every weekend and they meet as often as possible. These events have taken place about five years prior to the story, so the twins had lots of time to become very close.
> 
> Just if you were wondering how their family situation fits into this AU! ^^
> 
> And why is Koichi so adamant on changing his brother's opinion? You will find out...


End file.
